The most essential part of any sales letter is the headline. You can have the best testimonials, the best income statements, and the best sales copy known to man, but none of this will matter if visitors aren't convinced and intrigued by your headline; and simply click off of your sales letter, instead of reading on to learn more.

For this reason, it is absolutely imperative that you learn how to write powerful sales headlines if you want to round out a powerful sales letter.

So what does a powerful sales headline include?

A powerful sales headline must include a number of different “psychological triggers." These are words that have been proven time and time again to stir up emotion by triggering some widely-attached connotation to a word or phrase. “Free," “shocking," “scientifically proven," “powerful," and “secret" are all examples of psychological triggers. Including at least a few in your headline will catch readers' eyes, even if they're only skimming initially.

Now, in addition to including psychological triggers, you will want to make sure that you have some type of interesting conceptual hook in your sales headline. For instance, if there is some specific feature of your product that no other sellers in your market offer, you will want to make sure that you work that into your headline.

You will also want to find some way you can intrigue people into reading more, even beyond conveying a point of interest, couched in psychological triggers. For instance, you may want to say something mysterious or make some bold claim. This will bait people to read more, if only to find out if you're serious or gimmicky.

Remember, too, to keep in mind that your headline will need to match up with the rest of your sales letter. Don't simply make a claim in your sales headline and then slowly diminish it over the course of your sales letter. Instead, find some way in which you can make a powerful headline that matches up with the content that is about to follow. One way in which you can do this is to setup a pyramidal structure for your sales letter. Start off with your most powerful point in your headline – and then slowly scale down, including points that are of less interest. Those who have the least resistance to buying will purchase instantly; those who have more resistance will probably need to go through all of the points.

Last, when writing powerful headlines, always remember to test before launches to determine which headline works best. You can do this by creating two sales pages and testing the conversion rate with a pay per click campaign. Remember to only change one word or one phrase at a time, so you can clearly identify what increases or decreases your conversion rate.